Three Questions for Quick Innovation
Filter new business ideas through demand, relevance, and novelty
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 98%
The framework evaluates a possible business innovation with three sequential questions: what people are asking for, what the business can do that fits the present cultural context, and what it can do that is genuinely new. Demand prevents the business from inventing an offer nobody needs. Cultural relevance ensures the response acknowledges customers' current constraints rather than appearing detached or insensitive. Novelty forces the owner to move beyond the methods that produced yesterday's results. Ideas that satisfy all three conditions become candidates for a small, focused experiment. The framework does not promise certainty; it creates a disciplined way to produce movement when circumstances are changing faster than a traditional planning cycle can accommodate.
Origin
Jasmine Star says the Social Curator team used these three questions to determine how it should quickly innovate during the disruption caused by social distancing.
Core principles
- 01Begin with what people currently need
- 02Adapt offers to the surrounding cultural context
- 03Move beyond tactics that only worked in the past
- 04Use questions to constrain rapid experimentation
How to run it
- 1
Identify Current Demand
Collect the questions, requests, problems, and desired outcomes customers are expressing now. Focus on present behavior rather than assumptions inherited from normal conditions.
Pro tip Review direct messages, comments, customer support conversations, and recurring social-media questions.
Watch out Do not assume customers want the same offer merely delivered with different marketing.
- 2
Test Cultural Relevance
Assess whether the proposed response acknowledges the circumstances affecting customers. Adjust its positioning, delivery, timing, and tone so it is useful and sensitive to the moment.
Pro tip Ask whether the idea would feel helpful if you were experiencing the customer's current constraints.
Watch out Cultural relevance is not permission to exploit anxiety or manufacture urgency.
- 3
Introduce Something New
Determine what must change beyond the tactics already used to build the business. Select a new format, audience, delivery mechanism, partnership, or offer worth testing.
Pro tip Define the smallest version that can generate real customer feedback quickly.
Watch out Novelty without demonstrated demand can become distracting busywork.
- 4
Run a Focused Experiment
Choose one idea that passes all three questions and put it in front of customers. Use the response to decide whether to expand, revise, or stop it.
Pro tip Set a short test period and one observable success signal before launching.
Watch out Do not wait for certainty before collecting evidence from the market.
In the wild
A photographer who cannot conduct normal sessions notices parents need activities for children. She creates a live smartphone-photography class using devices families already own. The project answers a current request, suits stay-at-home conditions, and starts a new conversation with parents who may later buy her photography education.
→ The photographer remains visible, serves a timely need, and introduces prospective customers to her teaching.
A neighborhood restaurant hears that customers want engaging family activities, not just delivered meals. It offers a live workshop with an ingredient kit collected curbside. The concept addresses demand, respects at-home constraints, and adds a new educational format to the business.
→ The restaurant tests an additional revenue stream while strengthening customer relationships.
Common mistakes
Starting With the Existing Offer
Protecting the old offer at all costs can obscure the new problem customers are actually trying to solve.
Ignoring the Cultural Moment
An idea can satisfy demand yet still fail if its tone or delivery appears insensitive to customers' circumstances.
Confusing Novelty With Value
Something new is not automatically useful; it must also answer real demand and fit the context.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for entrepreneurs who must rapidly adapt products, services, or content during a major market disruption.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal for decisions that require lengthy regulatory, safety, or capital-intensive validation before experimentation.
From the transcript
“Number one, what are people asking for?”
“Now the second question we ask ourselves is what can we do that is culturally relevant?”
“And the third question is, what can I do that's new?”
From the episode
How to Build Your Business While Social Distancing